Today's a day off.
I decided to go back to Fanger Town.
And when I arrived at the Guild, big sister Iris was really happy to see me.
"Yari-kun! You're back!"
"Good morning, sis."
"How's your first week at school? Did you have fun?"
"...How can I say this? It's...problematic, but..."
It was fun.
My idea of having a quiet life may be broken, but at least it had taken me away from the boring life I've had for 5 years.
"...I enjoyed it."
"I'm glad to hear that. Did you make any friends?"
Friends, huh...
I guess it would be Lilith.
The Marigolds, I'm not sure about calling them my "friends".
And with Hildagea...
I'm still tormenting myself about what happened 6 years ago.
Even if she allowed me to call her my "friend", I can't do that.
I'm no longer worthy to call myself her friend.
Because, I was the one to kill her parents, and half of the villagers in the village.
"...I made many friends."
I answer her half-heartedly.
She seems to have notice my expression.
"What's wrong?"
"...Nothing. I'll go home and take a nap. Riding the carriage this morning tires me out."
I make an excuse before leaving,
I don't want to worry her anymore.
I head toward the forest just nearby the town's exit.
After ten minutes of walking, avoiding all of the traps I've set up in the last 5 years, I've arrived.
My first home.
I open the door to enter the now empty house.
Nothing have changed.
I sit down and proceed to untie my hair, but accidentally drop the metal band.
It then rolls under the bed.
I crouch down in an attempt to retrieve it, but find something else along with it.
A book?
No. A notebook.
Out of curiosity, I open the book and proceed to read what's inside.
"Day XX Month XX.
I've finally been able to break through a part of a wall and made a large enough hole for me to pass through.
I'm impressed with the magic that was used to create this wall."
...
A diary?
I skip through most of the parts before landing on a page.
"Day XX Month XX.
Today I found a knight, who's holding a child in his arms, unconscious by the riverside.
The child's head was bleeding, too, so I hurriedly brought the two of them into the house for treatment.
The knight was the one to wake up first.
When he saw me, he had a confused look on his face, before taking out his sword and pointing it at me.
I attempted to calm him down and finally succeeded after a few minutes.
He apologized and introduced himself as the..."
This part was ripped apart, so I couldn't make out what was written.
"...He said that he and the boy was being chased by the betraying guards of the Kingdom, and in a last effort, jumped off a cliff along with the boy.
The boy was unlucky enough to hit himself on the head by a rock when he fell down, and had gone unconscious.
That explained his bleeding head.
He didn't say anything about the boy's identity, but judging from his clothes, I guess he's from a noble family who'd got his life targeted by assassins.
After that, he kept looking at me for a while, enough to make me blush.
Then he suddenly told me I was beautiful.
Of course, I didn't expect that at all.
And he didn't seem to be a bad guy at all.
Then he looked into his pocket, searching for something.
He then took out a bracelet and gave it to me.
I was shocked.
He said it's a gift for saving their lifes.
The bracelet turned out to be a magic item that have the ability to hide one's horn.
I don't know how he'd gotten himself one of these, but this bracelet was really hard to find back in my homeland. The ones that were for sales had theirs price up in the sky."
I stop reading at that point.
I've realized by now that this novel belonged to no one else but my mother.
She had told me that she and father found me unconscious by the river, but I guess that was just a big fat lie, wasn't it?
Decide not to read anymore, I place the diary onto the cabinet and proceed to take a nap.
Who exactly is Father?
And...who am I?
Those question circle around my head before I slowly dive into my sleep.
-------------------------------------
"...He has awaken!"
"Master #$%*%$, are you alright?"
The boy lying on the bed slowly opened his eyes.
His head was hurting like hell, and he couldn't remember what happened.
No.
He couldn't remember anything.
What was this place?
Who were they?
Who was he?
He saw a pair of human in front of him.
Were they his family?
He couldn't remember anything.
"Who...are you? Who...am I? Why can't I recall anything?"
The face of the man in front of him showed an expression of shock.
"Perhaps...you've lost your memory?"
"Are you...my family?"
The knight didn't say anything for a while, before speaking again,
"Sadly, no. Me and my wife here found you unconsious by the riverside, so we've taken you in for treatment."
The woman next to him started to fluster, and she seemed as if she want to say something.
"...Then..."
"But if you want to, we'll be your new parents. What do you say? We'll raise you like any other parents would, and give you the love you need."
His speech was suspicious, but the boy accepted the offer.
"Then, from now on, your name will be...Yaritsuke. Welcome to the family, my son."
------------------------------------
"Where are we going, Father?"
"To our new home. Living in the woods like this would hinder your growth, so we've decided to move to a village near here."
"Will there be books there?"
"Of course, there will be lots of books there for you. And new friends for you to make as well."
"Ehhh? But I don't want friends. I want books! What is there to learn from friends anyway?"
"Don't say that. Sometimes friends can be the one to teach you valuable life lesson that isn't written anywhere else. Remember that, my son."
"...Yes, Father."
"Good. Now let us move."
----------------------------
"Hahaha! Look at this loser! Always reading book! What are you, a nerd?"
Yari was reading a book his father gave him, before a bunch of mean-looking kids came to harass him.
He ignored them and continued to read his book.
"Don't ignore us! Say something, loser!" The kid that looked like the leader took away the book from Yari.
"What's this? Why are there no pictures in this book?"
"Hey. Give it back."
"You want it back? Here."
He threw the book onto the ground and stepped on it, and other kids started doing the same.
"You bastard! What are you doing to Father's book!?"
Yari snapped.
He wouldn't care if they did something to him, but touching his father's book without his permission was unacceptable.
Yari punched the leader kid.
"...You dare punch me! You'll pay for this! Get him, boys!"
All of the kids started to gang up on Yari.
He hugged the book in his arms while being hit upon.
"Oi! What are you guys doing?!"
A voice of a girl was heard.
"Oh crap! It's the "Gorilla Girl"!!"
"Who's "Gorilla Girl"?!"
"Run!!"
The bullies ran away, leaving Yari on the ground, full of bruise and small injuries.
"Are you ok?"
The green-haired girl reached her hand out toward Yari.
Yari was reluctant at first, but grabbed her hand.
She helped him stand up.
"...I'm fine."
"I'm Hildagea. What's your name?"
"...Yaritsuke."
"Nice to meet you, Yari!"
"Was that suppose to be my nickname?"
"...You don't like it?"
"...It's fine, I suppose."
"Then call me Hilda. Then we're even."
----------------------------------
"Oi, Yaritsuke. Do you want to go fishing today?"
"...It's snowing outside."
"Don't be like that! Fishing while it's snowing is fun too!"
"Hey! Don't pull me like that! At least let me get ready first!"
-----
"Achoo! Bzzt..."
"AHAHAHA!! I can't believe that you fell into the river!"
"Shut it, you gorilla woman. You didn't even catch one."
"What did you call me just now?!"
"Ah! She's mad! Run!"
.
.
"Erm...Why are the villagers centering around your house? ...Hey! Yaritsuke!"
Yaritsuke ran.
He had a bad feeling.
A very bad one.
He tried to push himself through the crowds.
And he caught a glimpse of what was happening.
His mother was on the ground, seemed to be hit by a man that was standing near her.
And the thing that shocked him the most was...
Horns.
A pair of horns was on his mother head.
"Oi! Yaritsuke! Why did you left...me...behind...?!!!"
He froze.
He did not know what to do.
"Hey. So she was a demon all this time?"
"Could she be a spy sent by the demon?"
Rumors started spreading.
Yari didn't know anything.
He couldn't do anything.
And when he regained from his shock, then a worse thing happened.
"...You filthy demon!"
The blade of a sword swung down onto his mother.
He ran.
Toward his mother.
As fast as he possibly could.
He didn't care if his mother was a demon or not.
She's still his mother.
But it wasn't enough.
Blade met flesh, and red liquid started spewing out.
Some of it splashed on his face.
No.
NO.
NO!
He ran by his mother's side.
"Mother! Mother!"
"Hey. It's the demon's child."
"Poor thing. But what happened has happened."
He didn't understand.
Why.
Why did all of this happen?
Just because his mother was a demon?
Maybe.
But he didn't care anymore.
They'd hurt his mother.
So.
He will hurt them back.
He didn't remember what happened next.
But, when he came back to his sense, the scene in front of him was the one that would haunt him forever.
"Argh!! It hurts!!"
"I don't want to die yet! I still have so much things I wanted to do!"
The villagers in front of him started fading out of existence.
Their bodies slowly turned into dust.
Half of the villagers had gone.
In a state of panic, he picked up his mother and her bracelet on the ground and ran away.
The last thing he saw was Hildagea's scared face.
Like she had just seen a true demon.
What had he done?